A Change of Pace
by TailsMoon
Summary: Edward is now called Eliot as he gets stuck in the other world with the other Edward, who appearently didn't die. Hyperness and awkwardness ensues as Ed or now El tries to deal with it all while trying to return to Al and deal with high school. OOC-ness.
1. Meeting the Neighbors

Disclaimer: I do not own FMA, the only thing I own is the cookies they eat for breakfast, along with the plot ~maybe~.

My name is Edward Elric, or at least it was until I got stuck in an alternate world about a week ago. I was sixteen when I got sent here, trying to bring my brother back. I'm not sure if it worked or not, but I hope it did. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I found out Alphonse died.

Right now though, that's not the point. The point is, I just got sent to a different world, and it turns out that the other me didn't die from that big blimp landing on him. My father made us move in together. We're identical and share the same first name. Not a good idea when your dad is going to pass you off as twins and send you to school. So, I had to change my name since this wasn't my world and it was only fair the other me got to keep his name Edward.

And so, this is where the story starts. It's the first day of school in an alternate world with my new name, Eliot Heidrich. Great, just great. To top it all off, my other self and I get along so well that it's creepy, and very awkward.

"I'm off. I'll be back in about a month. Good luck at school, boys!" and the door slammed. Jeez, one of these days I'm gonna kill him! My Dad just gets up and leaves all of a sudden for long periods of time. A month isn't so bad, but still, he had left me, Al, and Mom for years! By the time he came back Mom was dead and Al and I had almost finished our search for the way to get our bodies back.

"Wanna bet he isn't back for about a year?" asked Edward.

"No way, who ever gets the bet of him being back on time or early always loses," I replied.

"You're no fun!"

"I'm not willingly betting my money on something I know I'll lose!"

The door slammed again, but this time it was someone coming in instead of going out.

"Are you our new neighbors?" asked a man at the head of a small group of people. "We live in the neighborhood and decided to welcome you."

I don't know why people would randomly come into our house, but they did.

"Yeah, we're the Heidrich brothers. I'm Edward and this is Elliot… Elliot?"

"Huh? OH… right. I'm Elliot and this is Edward."

"I already did introductions."

"Sorry."

"I'm sorry, but is this a bad time?" the man asked.

"Not at all!" we chorused in unison. I repeat my earlier rant, we get along so well it's creepy. We hit the same wave length so often that we'll both do something at the same moment and there won't be any difference in actions. AT ALL. It's creepy. I can't stand it! Especially since it causes us to run into each other a ton.

Something else was bothering me at the moment though. These people seemed familiar. I wonder why? The man that had spoken had relatively short, black hair, dark eyes, and a smirk. Oh no, even here I can't get away from this idiot! It was none other than Mustang, and, oh look, the rest of the gang! …oh…. OH MY F***ING GOD?! HUGHES?! Wait, wait, calm down Ed, er, El (Said 'L')… this is a different world. It is possible for Hughes to be alive.

Little did I know, an awkward silence was hovering around as I gaped at them. I would have probably stayed that way for hours if Edward hadn't done something. I just wish it hadn't sent me flying into a wall with a massive headache. HE HIT ME WITH HIS ELBOW! Not just that either, he hit me in the temple with his elbow. I should really learn to dodge that before I get brain damage…

So, if my gaping at them hadn't unsettled them, my flying into a wall obviously did the trick.

"I'm sorry for that! Back to introductions!" Edward chimed.

"YOU ARE SO NOT SORRY!" I screamed.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!"

And just as I opened my mouth to respond, bullets tore through our ceiling. Oh no, Riza had a gun for some reason in this world too. Not good.

"Enough," she said. "I'm Riza Hawkeye. This is Maes Hughes, Roy Mustang," and as she introduced everyone I was shocked to realize none of their names had changed. The only one missing was Al. It'll take me forever to get over that if I ever do!

An alarm went off somewhere in the house.

"OH CRAP!" Ed and I shouted in unison, once again. "Sorry, but we've got to go! See you later!" and we shoved our visitors out, grabbed our bags, locked the door, and ran off to school.


	2. The Terrible Cookie

As we, the Heidrich 'brothers', got to school, I realized something.

"Even though we moved and you're going to a new school, you don't think anyone will recognize us, do you?"

"Do you know the chances of someone moving to a totally different town, about five hours away from the last one I lived in, that went to my old school and knew me?" my other self replied.

"Slim to none, right? But still…"

As this little argument carried on, the two of us found our way to the front office after running around the entire school. How we had managed to miss the sign that said "Front Office" as soon as we had walked in the door in the first place, I have no clue.

So, we got to the office and introduced ourselves. The secretary gave us our schedules and told us how to get to our first class. Somehow, we got the exact same schedules… it must be the old man's work, making us stick together and all that.

And so, here I am, standing at my locker, at high school. I'm a sophomore and it's the first time I've gone to school in years, and everyone is watching Ed and me. Identical twins are rare, but twins who have bright blond hair and golden eyes are probably even rarer when they transfer into school in the middle of the year.

Well, just as Ed closed the locker, I got tackled. Whoever this guy is, he's about to get hit in the head with my right arm. Then I realized it was a girl. And not just any girl either. It was Winry.

"WINRY?!" Ed yelled from behind me.

As I realized that this girl was Winry's double and that Ed knew her, she shoved a cookie in my mouth. Home made too, otherwise I wouldn't have gagged on it. No store bought cookie could be that bad!

"Why are you here? You moved away almost two years ago! I though you were moving to America!" Ed shouted.

Winry looked up at Ed. Apparently she hadn't noticed him yet or something. I could tell that she kept looking back and forth between me and him, but I couldn't see her expression. I was pinned to the floor of the hallway, getting my fingers stepped on by people passing by, and dying from a somehow, not burnt but still nasty cookie.

"Edward? Then who am I sitting on? WHO DID I JUST FEED THE COOKIE I'VE BEEN SAVING FOR YOU FOR TWO YEARS?!"

"Two years?!" I choked out.

"Two years?!" my other self said, looking at me.

"Why are there two of you? Did aliens abduct you Ed?!"

Now, is it just me, or is this Winry a little, I don't know, off? Saving a cookie for two years to force feed someone that might not recognize you after you had tackled them to the ground? Isn't that a little off? I'm serious, isn't it?

So, Winry got off of me and pulled me to my feet. I spit the cookie out. She looked me over as I started talking to Ed.

"So, this is where we curse our luck right? That slim to none chance of someone you knew being at this school and here we are, standing in front of someone that knows you. I know this girl too. Not to mention, it seems that Mustang and the crew all seem to be living in our neighborhood. It's freaky! It's like I can't get away from them all or something!"

"You know me?" Winry cut in. "So, Mr. Alien, did you look through all of Edward's memories or something? Is that how you know me? Or did you abduct me too? DID YOU?!"

"El, don't answer any of that. She'll use it against you!" Ed said shaking me.

"Stop that!" I said, pushing him off.  
"Winry, before you do anything with that butter knife," Ed said. I turned around to find myself staring straight at the knife in question. "This is my twin brother. Remember how I had said that Dad had abandoned me and Mom? Well he came back about a few months ago and apparently I have a twin. He is NOT, I repeat, NOT an alien! His name is Eliot."

"Oh, well that's not very fun. So, your name is Eliot huh? Did you like the cookie I had been saving for Edward?" Winry asked me, pouting as she put the knife away. She seemed like she was back to normal again. It was almost like one of her automail freak outs, but with aliens. The way she said my name, I mean, Ed's name, freaked me out though. Ed seemed unfazed by it, almost as if she always had said his name like that… That's when I realized my Winry always said my name like that. Oh jeez, don't tell me, Winry… likes me?

Not that that wasn't a nice thought and all, but this is Winry we're talking about here. I think of her as a sister, not a lover! No wonder Al had always tried leaving the room after Winry came in! That is so weird! This is all too weird! I need a vacation, I'm too stressed out…

"…o? HELLO?!" Winry seemed to be yelling in my ear suddenly. I must have spaced out or something. And I NEVER space out.

"Wha? Oh right. The cookie was nasty beyond all reason."

And Winry broke out in tears. Great.

"El?! What'd you do?!" Ed yelled.

"What'd I do?! I only said the truth!"

"SHUT UP!" and with that both of us were on the floor with blood trailing down our heads. Here I thought Winry's wrenches hurt! Apparently her giant book on aliens and all that is worse.

I'm pretty sure she would have continued to beat us to a pulp if the bell that signaled that everyone had one minute to get to class hadn't rang.

Winry completely cheered up and ran off.

"Bye Edward! See you later!"

Ouch, completely ignored my existence. We got up and decided to head to our first class after we found a restroom and got rid of the blood running down our faces.

By the time we reached our first hour class, we were about thirty minutes late. How can schools be harder to find your why around than Central City? HOW?!

Well, when we entered the class room everyone seemed to get quite and look our way. As my eyes landed on the teacher, and I thought I'd die.

After everyone I've seen today, why did my first hour teacher have to be HIM?! At least I don't think he'll be evil here, and he doesn't wear a skirt. Good. It also seemed he had cut his hair. Also good. He looked like a guy now. It makes him less creepy.

"B-big brother?!" apparently I wasn't the only one shocked to see Envy. Although, it seems we had another problem. This Envy was actually related to us, or Ed, and closely.

"Wha?" Envy said looking over. A look of shock passed his face as he noticed there were two of his 'little brother's. "It seems we have our new students. It also seems that they're my little brothers… Excuse me for a moment class."

And Envy walked over and pushed me and Ed out of the door as the class started talking.

"What the hell?!" Envy yelled. "Why are there two of you?! Don't tell me _Hohenheim_ succeeded in his weird magic?!" Oh, seems that Envy still hates Dad. "I knew that I should have had you move in with me! Why didn't I have you move in with me?! I'm so sorry!"

And now I'm totally freaked out. Envy, the heartless git, just started freaking out because he blames himself and feels sorry. It would have been kind of funny if he hadn't started crying while hugging us as he repeated "I'm sorry!" over and over again. That was just creepy.

To my amazement, I felt the sudden urge to kick him. So I did, but it seems Ed had the same idea too. No, it didn't just seem like it, I heard him think it. You apparently get to hear your doppelganger's thoughts when you're this close. My list of weird and freaky things just keeps growing, doesn't it?

So Envy flew off into the hallway and landed on his face.

When he got up he seemed calm again and came back over.

"So, what happened? It didn't hurt did it?" Envy asked.

"Big Brother, don't worry, this is Eliot. Well, his real name is Edward too, but we can't both be called Ed. He's from an alternate universe and got sent over here when you killed him, er, I mean when your doppelganger killed him and then Al brought him back to life and then he did something trying to bring Al back to life, and… just, never mind. Plain and simple, he's a doppelganger from another world."

Envy stared at El. "I see. So, what am I supposed to do about this?"

"We've been calling ourselves twins," I said.

"Alright, Eliot was it? Let's go inside you two. I do have to teach after all."

After class was over, I had some blackmail on the real Envy if I ever saw him again. Teach English class with a bloody nose from where Ed and I sent him into the ground was hilarious. I still don't have a clue what his real name was though.

"Hey, little brother… s… come here."

"Yeah?" my other self said jogging over.

"How am I supposed to tell you two apart?"

At that moment I realized my hair in a pony tail like the other me and, worse, my Dad. I scowled, pulling it out and braiding it. Envy nodded, smiling, showing he knew what I was scowling at. If I ever get used to Envy being nice, shoot me. The moment everyone had left the room though, Envy grew serious.

"So what is your problem? You've been glaring at me all day."

"Shut up Envy!" It was really hard not to punch him.

Then, I realized Ed was yelling at me to stop and that I was an idiot or something. Except, his lips weren't moving.

"Eliot! Don't you dare touch Icarus! Just because he looks like someone you hate doesn't mean he's like that! You're an idiot!" Is what I heard.

Wait, Icarus? What type of name is Icarus?! HA! Even more blackmail! Anyways…

"Sorry, I didn't mean to call you Envy. It's just, it's hard when I keep thinking you'll stab me again or something." I tried ignoring the fact that I could hear Ed's thoughts.

"That's fine, but I'd never do that to you, even if you aren't technically my little brother."

Ed seems to be sulking now. Do I really sulk that much? I never noticed how much I complained and sulked before, it's always about food or that I'm not the center of attention. Man, I'm starting to hate myself even more. I'll have to work on being happier.

"You're going to be late you two! Run along to your next class!" and Icarus turned and started writing on the board as students came in.

Ed stopped sulking and we moved off to find our next class. If it is anyone else I know, I'll defiantly have bad luck since so far it's been either hard not to laugh, I've been beaten up, or I beat the other up. No matter what though, I'm gonna have a heart attack if all of this stress and stuff keeps deciding to fall on me.


	3. Admitting to Being Short

So, Ed and I got to our second hour class after a visit to the nurses office. Note to self, falling down stairs hurts if Winry is the one to push you down them.

As we entered biology class, I looked around. No one looked familiar, good. Teacher? Never seen her before. Great! Finally, peace and-

WHAM.

"Ow…"

O.K. then, Ed just got flattened by a book to the face.

"You two! You don't have this class! GET OUT!" the teacher yelled. I looked at my schedule. Ms. White… was her name.

"Uh, Ms. White? Biology?" I asked.

"Huh? Oh yes. Did you just get sent here from Mr. Burnzers? He is always sending kids over here for something…"

Ed stood up rubbing his nose.

"Umm, no. My name is Edward Heidrich and this is my brother, Eliot Heidrich. We're new students in this class," he said.

"Oh! You two are late! I didn't think you were coming!"

"I… fell… down the stairs. I had to go to the nurses office to make sure my head wasn't cracked open."

The room burst out in laughter. I'm really hating high school right now. After all of this I remember why I was happy to never to have to go back to my old school.

"Aww, you poor thing. Oh well, nothing to do about it now! Here's your test to see if you should be in this class or a different level!"

"What?! A test already?!" we both said, gaining a gloom cloud. I never really figured out how those work, they shouldn't be possible… They don't follow the laws of science… Stupid gloom cloud!

So, we took the test. Ed would have failed it if he hadn't been able to read my mind. Too bad for him though, I slammed him out of my head with a loud thought of "CHEATER" after handing Ms. White our tests and THAT made him fall out of his chair. The whole class started laughing again. I'm really getting the hang of this whole thought thing! Yay me! Oh no, I'm starting to sound like my age… WHY?!

"Umm, are you alright?" the teacher asked.

"I think so…UG" Ed said before another book even bigger then the earlier one slammed into his face.

"NO DISRUPTIONS IN MY CLASS!" Ms. White screamed at him. Man, was I ever happy not to be him right now. At least, not him as in being him or- never mind, I'm confusing myself, which doesn't happen often, but there is an alternate me laying on the floor dazed a few feet away, which doesn't happen often either.

"Ms. White! I think you killed him!" a girl sitting nearby said in a sing song voice.

"Uhh, other Heidrich, whichever one you are! Take your brother to the nurse's! Don't come back 'till next time!" the teacher ordered me. If I wasn't so afraid of that book in her hands, I would have told her that we still had about an hour of class left, but it was an excuse to get out as well so I took it.

Halfway to the nurse's office for the second time that day, Ed thankfully came out of his daze. Dragging him there was hard!

"Where am I?" he asked.

"I'm dragging you to the nurse's office. Geez, who knew we weighed this much? This is hard! I mean, you wouldn't think it would be possible for us to weigh this much since we're so short! … GAH?! DID I JUST-?!" I would have continued ranting but my other self also has anger problems when it comes to height too. I knew automail weighed a lot, but that was not just automail! Yes, Ed has automail too, he didn't exactly escape unharmed from a blimp landing on him after all.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT THAT A SPIDER COULD TOWER ABOVE ME?!"

"SHUT UP YOU LITTLE MIDGET!" Gasp. I did it again. I CALLED MYSELF SHORT. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME TODAY?!

"…" the nurse stood next to us, we had arrived in the nurse's. "Are you two sick? I think you might be looking for one of the counselors. They deal with psychological problems. I deal with physical problems."

"Uhh…" we both stared at her. Had she just called us mental in a weird twisted way?

"Ms. White, uh, hit me in the head with a book… I was unconscious until about half way here…" Ed said, sulking that I had called him small. I was sulking too though. I've always tried so hard not to admit it, and here I was, calling myself small. Or, just about.

"Ms. White huh? She sends a lot of kids down here… wait a sec, weren't you two here earlier?"

"Yeah, he fell down the stairs," Ed said pointing at me.

The nurse sighed and said we could both take a nap. Apparently she knew about Ms. White's rule on not going back to class.

As third hour passing started, Ed and I had already gotten to our next class, gym. All that was left between us and lunch, I couldn't wait! I was really hungry from all of the excitement so far, even if I was still slightly nauseous from that cookie Winry gave me. I wonder if Al was going to school too. I hope so, I wouldn't want him not finishing what was left of his teen years. I refuse to think that he died!

I continued into the gym to find the teacher. A fat, I mean horizontally challenged, man stood with a clipboard in the center.

"Looks like a bowling ball!" I whispered to Ed as we walked over.

"Oh, hello there! Welcome to gym! Your names please!" the bowling ball said as his belly bounced around.

"Um, I'm Edward and this is Eliot Heidrich!" My other self seemed like he was about to topple over from laughter, but then again, so was I.

"Oh! You two must be the new students! I'm the substitute for this class!"

"Substitute?" I asked.

"Well of course! Mrs. Cutlass normally runs this class," he said in a 'We should have known that' type of voice. "She's a real nice lady."

A few chuckles came from behind us. It seemed that some of the students had arrived.

"Real nice? Sure she is as long as you do exactly as she says, call her 'teacher' or 'ma'am', and are aware of where she is at all times, otherwise you'll be eating the floor on the other side of the gym from where you were standing," the random kid said. I should really start asking people their names. After all, when I get back to my world I'll want to be able to tell Alphonse about all of this as best I can. That is, if I haven't gone crazy yet.

"Enough talking now, class is about to start!" Mr. Whatever-his-name-is-substitute cut in.

And the rest of gym went by with a few pushups, laps, and other exercises before that random kid from earlier challenged me and Ed to a test of who was able to run the farthest. This kid apparently has some issues with thinking he has to be better. Ok, so the tubby sub agreed and said the rest could watch and judge us or join. They all chose to sit and watch. Ed seemed to want that too, but I was so eager to wallop this dude that Ed caught the competitive spirit almost immediately.

So, right before the marathon started, I decided I'd ask the kid his name.

"I'm Leroy Mustang! Remember it shrimp!"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A SHRIMP YOU SMUG *&%!!!" both me and Ed shouted at him. That got a few laughs until we simultaneously brought our fists up to his face. Sadly, he backed up while attempting to dodge. We would have still hit him but he tripped and fell to his butt. The sub didn't seem to notice a thing.

"Darn. I wanted that to connect. So, Mustang is it? Who's your Dad?" I asked. Ed looking at his own fist since his hadn't connected either. Leroy replied to me, a little flustered.

"Y-You don't know who my Dad is? I thought everyone knew that my Dad is a General in the military."

"Don't tell me, Roy Mustang?"

"That's right! See, you do know."

"Who'd he marry?"

"Who wants to know?"

"Let's see. Your Dad lives on North Bellewick Circle right?" Ed cut in.

"How did you know that?" Leroy said, in shock.

"We just moved in across the street. I'm Eliot and this is Edward. Now, are you going to tell us who your Dad is married to? When that group of people came over this morning, none of them shared the same last name," I just can't get used to knowing people that I'm not supposed to know! It's hard!

"You're our new neighbors?" He just won't answer the question, will he? If he evades it one more time, I'm gonna strangle him!

"Yes we are, now who did your Dad marry?" That substitute just keeps talking to the other students. Apparently he doesn't care if we're running or not.

"I want to know why you want to know so badly."

THAT DOES IT. I grabbed him by the collar.

"Cause I want to know! NOW IF YOU DON'T TELL ME I'M GONNA POUND YOUR FACE INTO THE GROUND!" Ed seems to have been left out of the conversation. He's reading over on the benches now.

"Fine! Whatever _shrimp. _I'll tell you if you win our marathon. And if I win, you tell me why you wanted to know so badly!"

"DEAL!"

And we took off. Ed seems to be angry at me for leaving without him, but who cares? _Leroy _is going to take the beating for his Dad. Even if his Dad isn't the Roy Mustang I know and hate!

After running at full speed for about half an hour, all three of us collapsed. Everyone jogged out and tried judging who had made it the farthest.

I won! Or at least I tied with Ed. We were about two inches in front of Leroy. So, we all waited to catch our breath before Leroy admitted defeat. He told us what his Mom's name was.

"My Mom is named Riza Hawkeye. She refused to let her last name be changed because she had worked hard on getting her name to be known. Duh."

"I KNEW IT!" I shouted as Ed walked away towards a drinking fountain.

Leroy looked taken aback.

"Knew what?"

"Oh, nothing," I figured if those two would ever marry anyone it'd be each other.

The rest of the class seemed to be missing. Then I realized that they were all filing back into the building. Class must be over. YES! LUNCH TIME!

I slammed Leroy into the ground as I leapt up. Leroy is such a pushover! I can't believe this kid is related to Mustang and Hawkeye! It's almost pitiful!

I caught up to Ed who was waiting by the door.

"You really shouldn't take your pent up anger towards Mustang out on his son you know."

"Oh shut up! You know you want to join in! Besides, when have I ever been nice to anyone?"

"You're right, I do want to join in, but why bother? The more time you waste beating the little punk up, the longer it's going to take to get you home!"

"Wow, I feel like I'm talking to my conscience…"

"SHUT UP!" and that elbow of his once again connected to my temple. This is the… 2nd … 5th… 9th time he's done this to me! I can read his mind, well, some of the time but still, I should be able to dodge that stupid elbow!!!

"HAHAHA!" Leroy's laughter sounded from over me.

I stood up and glared at him.

"What's so funny?"

"You!"

"THAT'S IT!" and my own elbow hit HIS temple. He went flying so far that he had regained consciousness before he even hit the ground.

"I hope you didn't give him brain damage," Ed said walking away. I joined him saying, "Don't worry, if he really is Mustang's son, he'll be perfectly fine."

Just as we entered the lunch room I realized that I hated cafeteria food. Lovely, I'll have to eat that sloppy stuff and- wait, I smell pizza. Since when do lunch rooms have pizza? I LOVE THIS WORLD! I looked for the source, and there it was. They were serving it in the main line too! EVEN BETTER!

"El?"

"Yeah?"

"Race you to the lunch line?"

"You're on!" What the? Leroy was back? Hey, why was he hanging around with us anyways?

"Uhhh… ok," and we all took off.


	4. Teacher of the Gym

Eliot's POV

The rest of the day went by smoothly, and we had even managed to avoid Winry. I had realized a few things over the day as well. Ed and I weren't exactly alike. It seemed he was better in the area of fictional things and English class and foreign languages, while I was better at science and technology. I was already getting used to all of the cell phones and TVs and computers. I was also better at cooking which is sad and pathetic since if I'm better and can barely cook, that means Ed sucks at it. Don't ever let him near the stove; somehow he'll manage to catch it on fire even without cooking anything.

When school let out, Icarus managed to find us.

"Edward! Hey!" we both jogged over to him. A look of surprise passed over his face as he remembered I was here. "How are you two getting home? Walking I suppose? If you live with HIM then I suppose you're only a few blocks from the school. He's practical after all, if nothing else."

"Big Brother, you want to come over?"

"You know I'd rather scratch my eyes out with a spork than see our dad."

"He's off on a trip right now. He won't be back for a while," I told him.

"I'll visit then, but not today. Don't get run over going home."

With that, he left. Just in time for Leroy to come running up.

"HEY!! YOU KNOW WHAT?! I REALIZED THAT WE LIVE NEXT TO EACH OTHER BASICALLY AND WE SHOULD ALL WALK HOME TOGETHER!!" he shouted at us, even though he was standing in front of us.

_"Make a run for it?"_ Ed asked me mentally.

_"Do you have to ask?"_

We took off running. I just knew this would become a habit if Leroy was annoying as I thought he was.

* * *

The next morning went smoothly, until we reached our science class.

The book met me this time. Ms. White picked her book up, leaving me on the floor with a slight headache.

"You boys are amazing! You aced my test and I put college level questions on there! You belong in my top AP class, not this sad, pathetic Biology class!"

I got up, grinning. Ed didn't look so happy though.

"I'll have your schedule changed immediately!"

"No!" Ed shouted. Ms. White glanced at him.

"And why not?"

I stepped in to help him out.

"If we both passed then he cheated. Only I'm good with science. He sucks at it."

Ms. White smashed Ed over the head with her book.

"SHAME ON YOU. You'll just get to be in this class then. And I shall make you SUFFER. You on the other hand," she turned on me, "will just be kicked out of my classes. Shame on YOU for letting him cheat. I'll allow you to have the credits since you obviously know your stuff, but I never want you in here again. Free period for you. Good bye."

So I was kicked out of the room. I decided I'd just hang out in the library and read. Ed could just "suffer" for all I cared.

When finally second hour drew to a close, I met up with Ed and we went to our gym class.

As we dressed out for the day, Leroy came in shouting. I wonder what happened to that very cool composer he had for the first five minutes we knew him?

"Heidrich brothers! Guten Morgen! Wie geht's?!"

"Hey, I don't know what you're saying, so CUT IT OUT," I said, right before Ed gave me a weird look.

"Um, you realize he's speaking German right? You were going to move there before changing your mind? You learned a bit of it?" Ed told me.

I thought about it while Ed responded to Leroy. I guess I had learned some of it. Well, language wasn't my thing, like I said.

I left the locker room, and walked into the gym. I stopped dead in my tracks. The actual teacher was Izumi. I should have known when Leroy described her as murderous and wanting to be called "Teacher." Really. This place is zapping me of my intelligence. I thought school was supposed to make you smarter.

Luckily, I basically knew how to not piss her off. Which was more than I could say for Ed. I tried to tell him how to deal with her and gave him hints, but he still ended up dying a few times.

When lunch started, I was laughing hysterically. For once, I wasn't Teacher's main target. That was awesome. From a point where I wasn't terrified, I actually respected her a bit more. Maybe I should try to be like her? Not scary all the time of course, but if I could just make that sort of impression on people, I'd be set. I'm too…. Short… UGH… for people to actually respect me. Well, they might respect me after I do something awesome, but until then they really mess with me.

* * *

So yeah, if you haven't noticed, I'm rewriting this a bit. This is a new chapter since I thought I should fill in that old time skip that was here.


	5. Icarus Wishes to Move in

Eliot's POV

All through lunch, Ed complained about Teacher.

"You know," I said, "if you would just trace through my memories you'd know how to deal with her."

"I'm not going into your head! You've got creepy stuff stored up there. Like things out of a horror movie. How many did you watch anyways?"

"You realize those are my actual memories?"

"WHAT are you two going on about?" Leroy cut in. I jumped. I hadn't realized that he'd been sitting there. Winry suddenly sat down at the table as well.

"They're twins!" she told him.

"They are?" a surprised look passed over his face.

"Yup! And 'cause of that, they can read each other's mind and summon aliens!"

"NO WAY?! REALLY?!"

Ed and I looked on as the dumb duo got even more farfetched in their conversation. Something about how we were the aliens and we could be chopped into little pieces and pull ourselves back together. It even sounded like they wanted to try it too. So we quickly finished shoving food down our throats, and made a break for it.

Edward's POV

I was excited. Big Brother had agreed to come over today. He'd give us a ride home, and judge if he liked our living conditions or not.

I dragged El into Big Brother's car, a blue Volvo. As I directed Big Brother to the house, Ed stared out the window of the car.

"I'll never get used to this," he said.

"Get used to what?" Icarus asked.

"Cars, planes, televisions, school, any and all of it."

"What, they don't have any of that where you're from?" Icarus seemed shocked. He pulled into our driveway.

When we had all filed out of the car and into the house, Ed continued talking.

"Technically, my world compared to this one is back in the early 1900's. There was school, but I never went. I used to, before my Mom died, but that was years ago."

Icarus looked around the room, a thoughtful look on his face. I couldn't tell what he was thinking. We all sat down.

"So, did that man take care of you?" he asked after a minute.

"No, he'd left us when I was three. Al and I learned alchemy and I got a job."

"A job?!" Icarus shouted. He glanced over at me. "No way, you aren't responsible enough!"

"Thanks," I said sarcastically. This wasn't really a conversation I was in on, but it was interesting, so I continued to listen.

"Yes, a job. I joined the military as a state alchemist. I was twelve by that point though. I would have joined sooner, but rehabilitation for my automail took a while."

"How old were you? I'd hate it if Edward had to have automail."

A silence fell over the room for a moment. Icarus must have thought El didn't want to talk about when or what had happened to cause him to need automail because he changed the subject. Although, that wasn't why the silence had fallen over the room. I did have automail, and I'd had it for about half a year. El knew about it too. He was the reason I had it.

The only reason I was already used to having it was because of syncing with El. His mind knew how to use it, and it had shown mine how. I'd been having trouble with it till he showed up. We hadn't been able to communicate until just recently though.

"-in school?" is where I came back in on the conversation. I wondered if I should tell Icarus about the automail.

"_Are you crazy?" _El asked me. "_Do you know how much this guy would freak out if he knew you'd been hit by a blimp during a time traveling experience?"_

_"Oh, yeah. I'd forgotten that."_

_"Forgotten what?"_ El was doing great, keeping up with Icarus in that conversation and talking to me as well.

"_That I was back in that time because Dad took me along for once. Wish I hadn't gone. Time travel messes with you."_

_"You're telling me this?"_

I laughed out loud. Icarus and El looked at me.

"What's so funny?" Icarus asked. I didn't know what they had been discussing.

"Um, I was just thinking I'd go cook something and El could show you around the house," I said, saying the first thing that came to mind. I stood to leave the room.

"Alright," Icarus said before Eliot completely put me down.

"You aren't going near the stove! You touch that thing and the whole house will be up in flames in less than a minute. YOU show Icarus around and I'LL cook."

"Ouch. You didn't have to put it like that."

"It's not my fault you're scared of fire."

"H-HEY!" I exclaimed. Big Brother didn't need to know that.

"Scared of fire? You used to play with it all the time. What'd you do, burn yourself?" Icarus cut in, just like I had known he would. I sat back down.

"W-well, you see."

"He does have automail because Hohenheim decided to take him on a time traveling adventure to just before World War II started and Ed got hit by a crashing, flaming zeppelin."

"I was telling him," I glared at El.

"You were going too slow."

"And what happened to not telling Big Brother so he wouldn't freak out?"

"I have a right to freak out," Big Brother cut in. "You lost a limb?! TIME TRAVELING?!"

I laughed nervously as he stood up.

"Let me see!" he ordered me. I nodded after a moment of being glared down.

I pulled my shirt off, exposing my automail arm.

"You lost your entire left arm?" I looked at Icarus. A pained look I'd never seen before was plastered on his face.

"And to just above my knee on my right leg," I said, looking away.

"I'm sorry," Icarus said, "I should have taken you away from our _Dad_ ages ago. You know what? I'll make up for it. I'll live here with you both from now on!"

"What?! It's not like it's your fault! It's his!" I pointed at Eliot. El didn't disagree.

Icarus raised an eyebrow at us before continuing. "I don't really care whose fault it is, but I left you at that man's mercy, and I'll make up for it. I'll move in on Saturday."

* * *

Elliot's POV

I hadn't thought I'd be able to make it to Saturday, let alone Friday, but I did. I was exhausted and had already had enough of homework to last me the rest of my life. I wanted to sleep in, but Icarus was moving in today. It sent shivers up my spine just thinking about it, an Envy living in the same house.

I could sense Edward's glares through the wall separating our rooms. I yelled through the wall at him, thinking that apologizing out loud was better.

"Sorry! I know Icarus isn't Envy, but I can't help it!"

The doorbell rang. Ed attempted to run to the front door, but managed to trip over a chair and smash his face into the floor in his excitement. I sighed. I'd go help as soon as I finished putting my jeans on.

There was also a block party later on. I'd have to cook something to bring to it. We were being forced to attend by Mustang and Hughes, so there was no declining. I was looking forward to it though.

I wanted to talk to Hughes and everyone, even if they had never known me before last week when they introduced themselves.

Ed called for me to come help carry in the boxes and bed that would soon be placed in one of the two spare bedrooms.

I left the room. For some reason, I could tell I didn't mind this new life at all. Other than the homework, it was fun. It wouldn't be too hard to get used to it. No fighting and no pain. Icarus, Ed, and me, a small and happy family in a happy neighborhood full of friends, in a town where bad things barely ever happen.

"Hey, Elliot," Icarus nodded at me as he stepped into the house with a box in his arms.

I smiled. After the thought of being happy for once, I was almost completely over the fact that he looked like Envy.

Icarus called for Ed. I didn't even look when I heard the name. Here, in this world, I wasn't Edward Elric anymore. I didn't even want to be.

* * *

Alright, I don't know. I had to come up with something. I'm just going to leave the time skip thing. Adding extra stuff is going to mess later things up, and if I do this my action scene things that I want to write will be forever in the making. So next chapter will be one most of you have read already, sorry. Since I've already got them written though, I'll update really quickly for a while.


	6. Reunited and it Feels so Weird

So I don't know if you all like this story or not. I've noticed that in parts I say Eliot and in others the name is Elliot. I don't have the time to go fixing them all, and I have no idea when I switched, but it happened. Is this an alright story? I wrote a lot of this a while back, and my writing skills have improved I think, but to fix all the weird wording from forever ago would take forever... The newer chapters are fine though.

* * *

Elliot's POV

"Join us next time for the conclusion of…. TRANSFORMERS!" Leroy shouted as he grabbed a slice of pizza.

I'm really glad that Ed and I had already made it through the lunch line because Leroy was making a fool of himself. Over the past few months, I'd figured out that he hadn't inherited any of his Mom's personality WHAT-so-ever. He has got to get along great with his Dad though, I mean, I bet Roy even takes him stalking women with him.

"Hey, El, I need to use the restroom, be back in a minute, o.k.?" Ed said, standing up.

"No! Don't leave me with Leroy!!!!" I tried grabbing Ed's arm as he walked away, but missed. Curse him and his excuse to leave. He didn't even have to go! I should know cause I can read his mind!

"Where's he going?" Leroy asked as he walked up, passing by Edward on the way.

"Bathroom," I said, glaring daggers at Leroy. Maybe he'd get the hint and leave me alone. Of course, there would be no such luck. He sat down and started going on about some girl in his fifth hour class. I'm gonna have to get Ed back somehow for this one…

* * *

Ed's point of view

"No! Don't leave me with Leroy!!!!" HAHAHA, the only downside to this one is that he was going to try to get me back somehow or another later.

Anyhow, where should I go? I need to waste about six minutes.

~A little while later~ Ok, where was I sitting?

"Excuse me? Are you Edward Heidrich?" someone looking like a teacher asked.

"Ummm, yeah, that's me. Is there a problem?"

"Oh, no, it's just that your little brother is waiting for you in the front office. Come on now."

"Wait, hold on a minu-" and I got dragged by the collar towards the office. Little brother? If this was Alphonse or something, what am I supposed to do? The only things I know about him is what El has either told me or the short glimpses I get of his memories! And it isn't like I could explain to him in the middle of the office that Ed wasn't me, but the other me, right? I should calm down. Why would Al suddenly be here? How could he even know El was going to this particular school?

The lady suddenly let go. We were in the office.

"BIG BROTHER!!!" and a 10 year old, eyes full of tears, ran up and hugged me. I barely recognized him from Ed's memory. Crap. What was I supposed to do?! I couldn't contact El from this far away! Our telepathy only worked if we were within twenty feet of each other! WHY WAS HE HERE?!

"Umm, Al?" I'll have to try winging this one.

"Y-yeah?" he muttered into my chest, without letting go. He seemed awfully tall… WAIT, not the time to be calling myself shor- UG!

"Let go…. Please…" I barely managed to say, attempting not to beat myself up.

"OH… right, sorry… I forgot you don't like hugs…" he backed away and tried wiping his eyes. He was about to say something when the lady walked up.

"Edward? I've excused you from school so that you may take your little brother home."

"What about Eliot?"

"Him and Icarus both. I myself will take over Icarus' class. I was about to go get them. Wait here another moment please," and she walked off.

"Who, Big Brother?" Al asked as soon as she left.

I couldn't think of what to tell him. COME ON, THINK!!! Nothing… I'm totally blank. I looked off to the side…

"Are you alright, Big Brother?" Al looked worried.

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!!" I couldn't take being called 'Big Brother.' I was the one to use that term, not being called that! It was annoying.

"Wha? Bu-but…. Big Brother…." Alphonse once again looked close to tears.

"L-look. I'm not… I'm not Edward… well, I am, but that's not the point…"

"What?"

* * *

It was a very good thing that the secretaries weren't in here right now, it would be awkward otherwise. I looked out of the door for about the twentieth time since I got in here. Was he here yet!?

"Big Brother?"

Just then, I heard El's thoughts.

"_ED?! IS IT AL?! IS IT?!_"

"_YES IT IS, NOW GET IN HERE! I'M IN A VERY STICKY SITUATION RIGHT NOW!!_"

"_Don't worry, I'm just outside!_"

And true to his word, he ran in, followed by the secretary who went to get him.

"AL?"

Al just looked over in shock.

* * *

Elliot's point of view

I ran into the office, freaking out.

"AL!" and there he was. He looked like he had years ago, except, he seemed to be in shock. I then realized that Ed was in there too. That would probably be what was causing him to… whoa, wait, is he o.k.?

"Ah!" me and Ed both gasped as Al fell to the floor, only to lay there unconscious.

"Oh my! I'll hurry and get Icarus now!" and the secretary ran out towards the direction of Icarus' room. I wonder what he thinks of all of this? Getting one new little brother, and then the next month, getting another?

I think I'm in shock too… I couldn't concentrate on Al. I had basically given up on him being alive, or even if he was alive, that I'd ever get to see him again. But now that he was here, I felt like he wasn't. How had he even found me?

"_ELLIOT! SNAP OUT OF IT YOU IDIOT!!! I'm gonna send you flying if you don't help me do something!_"

"_R-right!_"

I almost immediately grabbed Al off the floor. I must have been standing in the doorway, freaking out for a few minutes because Icarus came in.

He looked at Alphonse, nodded, and then signaled for us to follow. I think we were heading for his car. He handles weird situations relatively well… UG, I'm spacing again!

I held Al in my lap all the way back to our house. Icarus knew where to go. He'd been living with us for the last month after all. He'd sold his other house so that he could watch over us. When we arrived, the only thing I did was go inside and sit in the living room, making sure Al would be alright.

It had been a few hours since we'd gotten home. School had already let out. Icarus was grading papers in the office and Ed was now watching Al. I was the best cook here so I was in the kitchen. I had barely agreed to do so, since it required leaving Alphonse, but he would probably need to eat when he woke up. That was the best part of all of this. That Al had his body back.

"ELLIOT!!" Ed yelled, freaking out.

I turned off the stove and oven then dashed out into the living room. Al seemed to be squirming quite a bit. I ran up and kneeled next to him.

"Al? Al, are you awake?"

"B-big brother? Where am I?" he asked, sitting up. He looked around and then froze. "R-right. I remember n-now… but this isn't…………..ENVY!" he looked like he was about to strangle Icarus… not good.

"Al, CALM DOWN. I'll explain everything. And don't attack Ic… uh… Envy!" he was confused enough without having to deal with Envy's 'new' name. Icarus didn't seem too happy, but seemed to realize this fact as well. Ed though, was just freaking out. Completely lost on what to do.

"Are y-you really…" before Al could finish, Ed answered.

"Yeah, he is. Of course, I am too, but-"

"Shut up!" and I elbowed him in the temple, making him fly into a near wall. He seemed dazed. Oh well, that was revenge for Leroy. I was just about to help him up when Al started laughing. It didn't take him long for him to calm down though.

"Big Brother, if you don't stop, you're gonna kill him!" and he burst out in laughter again.

* * *

For some reason, this seemed different from when he used to do this. Then I realized. Al wasn't different at all. He had thought that I would continue to beat Ed up…. Like I normally would have… It was me. I had changed. I'd only been here for about three months, and I had changed enough for it to be noticeable.

"I'm sorry Big Brother… we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me…"

"What?" I was confused on what he meant.

"I know we've only been here for about a week, but that is a lot of time to be stuck in a different world…"

"Al, how long did you say?"

"Big Brother? Umm… a week? Why?"

"It's been a lot longer than a week, Al." I was really worried… this wasn't good… not good in the least…

"What do you mean?" I was really happy that Icarus had dragged Ed out of the room. It was hard enough without them.

"I mean, I've been here, in this world, for over three months."

"WHAT?! B-BUT THAT ISN'T POSSIBLE!!"

"Maybe I got here faster because I had been alive at the time of passage? Anyways, it doesn't matter. I bet you're hungry. I'll go finish making dinner. It won't be too long," I said, leaving to go finish cooking.

* * *

Edward's POV

"Hello?" I interrupted Alphonse. The look on his face said he was angry, but at the same time, confused. As I leaned in to see if anyone was home, Al suddenly focused on me and jumped backwards.

"So, how'd the talk with…. Ed… go?" I asked.

Al sat there looking at me for a moment before he seemed to realize what I'd meant.

"Ummm.. good… I guess…?"

"Right… So, anyways. I'm Edward Heidrich. Your bro's doppelganger you could say. Of course, this is my world, so he's the doppelganger. We called ourselves 'twins' so that we could go to school. Your bro goes by Elliot, while I get called Edward. Again, this is because it is technically my world. Follow?" I told him, giving him the short version of the story.

"What?"

I repeated it again and he seemed to get it this time. "Oh…"

"Good! You got it all! I bet dinner is ready soon. Till then, I challenge you to a game of…. ROCK PAPER SCISSORS!"

He sat and stared at me like I was crazy.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'!" I held out my fist and waited. Al just sat there. "Uhh… are you going to play or not?" Suddenly, El called from the kitchen. It was dinner time.

"Fine, we'll play later… for now…" I dashed off towards the kitchen, leaving a grossed out looking Al behind. He apparently didn't like the idea of food that Elliot made. I thought it was awesome though.

As we all sat around the table, Icarus started lecturing El and I on our English lessons that day.

"Ed?" I looked over at Al. He looked at me for a second before I poked El on the shoulder.

"Hey, El, I think Alphonse wants you."

"Huh? Oh, sorry Al, I didn't hear you."

* * *

Elliot's POV

I sat down next to Al after he sat staring at the floor for a minute. "You o.k.?" I asked after giving Al another moment to think.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine."

"What was it you wanted?"

"W-why are you letting him lecture you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"ENVY. That is what I'm talking about. You're letting him lecture you."

"Envy? Oh. Al, he isn't a homunculus here, and his name is Icarus, not Envy. And he's not lecturing me on anything."

"Then what was he just doing?"

"Uhh… Fine, he was lecturing me, but he's my English teacher at school, he has a right to do so."

I sat there for a minute. When it seemed Al wouldn't say anything else, I sat back down in my own chair and started eating.

All of a sudden, there was a large something flying in through the window.

"HEY HEIDRICH BROTHERS!" I stood up, closely followed by Ed.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!!!" we yelled in unison, both picking up and throwing Leroy back out the window.

"Maannn," Ed groaned. Al continued to sit in his chair as the rest of us started cleaning.

"Big Brother… that was…. Weird…"

"I know Al, just ignore Leroy, he does this every other day or so."

"Ummm, whatever…. Hey, why won't you use alchemy to clean?" Al asked.

I stopped cleaning, looking up at him.

"You haven't realized yet?"

"Realized what?"

I clapped my hands to do alchemy. When I touched them to the floor, the alchemic reaction didn't happen.

"Alchemy, isn't able to be used in this world," I said, keeping it short and simple.

"WHAT?! Then how are we supposed to get home?!" Al looked shocked.

"Home? THIS, this is home," I waved a hand at the room. I went back to cleaning before I'd even finished waving my arm. I didn't know what else to say. There wasn't any way to get home. Icarus had gone outside after Leroy earlier on. Al just sat in his chair, next to an overturned table and the mess of food, staring at me with a look that said "Who are you and what have you done with my Big Brother?" I realized that I normally wouldn't have given up, but what other choice did I have?


	7. Computers

You know something? I haven't updated because I haven't felt like writing any more of this. Then I realized I still needed to reupload about 4 chapters. Really smart right? So I'm putting all I've got up. Enjoy.

* * *

Eliot's POV

"This will be your room. Icarus fixed it up a bit before you woke up this afternoon."

"Thanks," he said, just as I turned around to go back to the dinning room. "Um, Big Brother, can I ask you something?"

"Wha? Oh, yeah. Of course you can," I said, turning back around.

"Tomorrow, do you think you could make me a pie? An apple one? (1) Like the way Winry does?"

"An apple pie? Sure, I'll try at least, but don't blame me if you die from food poisoning though," and I left the room. After a minute, Al screamed.

"BIG BROTHER!!! BIG BROTHER, BIG BROTHER!!!!!!!!"

I turned towards the running footsteps coming at me. Al dived on me, knocking me over.

"BIG BROTHER!!! THERE WAS A WEIRD THING IN MY ROOM, AND WHEN I HIT A WEIRD BUTTON IT LIT UP AND STARTED GOING 'WHERRRR'!!!!!"

"Al… AL! Calm down! You just turned the computer on…" I said, standing up and pulling him up with me.

"Wha-what's a computer?"

"Uhhh…"

"HAHAHAHA!!! Hey El, remember when you found the computer? You had a similar reaction. This is hallarious! Oh, you better explain all of the other technical advances of this time as well, otherwise he'll probably make a big fuss over an airplane or a TV too!" Edward barely managed to choke all of that out through his laughter"Right… ok, Al. You're going to have to follow me back to your room. Finish cleaning without me alright Ed?"

"CHECK!"

"By the way, where did Icarus go?"

"He went into the office. You know how he is."

"Oh. Alright."

I started to push Al back towards his room.

"Wait! What about that computer thing?!"

"Alphonse! Let it go! It won't hurt you!"

"But!"

"SHUT UP!" I yelled. Al suddenly started crying. "Wha-What'd I do?!"

"Y-you told m-me to shut u-u-up!"

"S-Sorry! I didn't mean to! Well, I meant to, but that's not what I mean! You were just being unreasonable and you weren't calming down and…. I'm sorry!!"

I didn't know what to do and started to panic. Alphonse may have been fifteen, but he was acting like he looked. Al watched me panic for a moment before starting to laugh.

"I-hic- It's okay –hic- Bi –hic- Big Brother!"

"A-are you sure?"

"Yeah –hic-. I don't –hic- know what's wr –hic- wrong with me."

I realized that Al probably wasn't used to his body reacting to emotions. We got back to his room and I turned the light on. Then, I sat him on his bed and began the long talk about how technology was so advanced in this world.

"Wait, wait! Are you telling me that not only are we in a different dimension, but we went into the future as well? And that people can FLY?"

"Well, basically. But people don't really fly, they just use machines to fly in."

"But how can they get metal to float?"

"High speeds and really powerful engines."

"And people can stay underwater for hours at a time?"

"If they have scuba diving equipment they can."

"How's that work?"

"Al, it's getting late. I'll tell you more about it all tomorrow while you eat your pie."

"But!"

"Al, please! I'm tired!"

"Big Brother!! PLEEAASE????"

"Good night Al! Sleep well!"

I walked out of the room. Today was awesome. I'd found out that Al was still alive! Starting tomorrow morning, I'd make him a pie, skip school, and just have fun. Then it'd be the weekend and I'd get to show him around. For now I'd go read.

After a while, I decided to check in on him. I didn't want him to have gotten too excited and be up all night.

As I opened the door, I noticed that Al seemed to be fast asleep.

"Wow, the kid sure falls asleep fast!"

"AH!" I cried, leaping sideways, away from Leroy, who had suddenly appeared.

"What are you doing here!?" I half yelled, half whispered.

"Checking to see why you had all left early today. Who's that?"

"My little brother. Now get lost!"

"YOU HAVE A LITTLE BROTHER?!"

"SHUT UP AND BE QUIET!!" I yelled, "accidentally" punching him in the nose and tossing him onto his face, before dragging him outside, once again this was all "accidental." I slammed the front door on him.

As I walked around the house closing and locking every possible entrance so Leroy wouldn't appear out of nowhere in the middle of the night again, I decided I would go straight to bed. I was WAY too tired to read at this point.

"Ed? Hey Ed?!" Jeez, he's already asleep. I was going to ask if he new where any recipes for apple pie were… I'll just ask in the morning I guess…

The moment my head hit the pillow and the lights were out, I was fast asleep. Having your brother back and stuff with computers and alchemy happening was tough to keep under control. I know I didn't handle it well, but I did my best…

* * *

(1) In the manga Al says that the first thing he wants to do when he gets his body back is eat an apple pie.

Hello everyone who decided to read this! I couldn't exactly come up with a way for Al to get through all the weirdness since Al should freak out but still stay relatively rational… If you didn't think it was very good, give me some ideas and I'll fix it up a bit.

Oh, and if you want another chapter sooner rather than later, you might want to help me with rather or not you'd want to have them go back to their own world, dragging along Leroy, Icarus, and Ed of course, or if you'd want them to be stuck forever. After all, I have to start having them either find ways to get back or have them try and give up.


	8. The money is different

Eliot's POV

So when I got up at about six, thinking I needed to get ready for school, I did my entire get ready routine before realizing I didn't need to be up.

I was past being able to fall back to sleep, so I dug through the kitchen looking for a recipe for apple pie. When I finally managed to find a recipe, I left to go get the ingredients from the store. What could go wrong? No, wait, I shouldn't say that or everything will go wrong.

And everything did go wrong. I bought everything, then upon walking out of the store, I tripped and fell. My bag landed with a large thud before being run over. I then had to go buy everything again, spending the rest of whatever money I had while nursing a bloody knee.

So when I got home I decided I'd just forget about the bad stuff and start… The pie should be done in about two hours, including prep time…

Edward's POV

When I woke up, I realized I was already late for school.

"Whatever. I guess I'm skipping today."

"Oh, you're awake," El said when I walked into the kitchen. "Icarus had to go teach, but we get to skip today."

"Figured. Hey, I'm going to go mess with our computer. Call me if you need help with that."

"You may be me, but you're a terrible chef," Eliot replied. "Besides, I'm almost done."

After about an hour of messing around on the computer, Al came up behind me, yawning.

"Big Brother?"

"Nope."

"Sorry, uh, what are you doing with the compater?"

"Playing games. And it's a computer not a compater."

"Computer, got it. You can play games with it?"

"Yeah, like Pinball and Fable (borrowing the titles, I don't own these either). I'm playing an MMORPG right now though."

"What?" he said. I seemed to have lost him.

"Ok, so a computer can be used to play games or do work. Hey, didn't El explain all this?"

"Yeah, but I still don't get it."

"Jeez, he's useless isn't he? Well, pinball is… pinball. Fable is where you become this guy and you complete the missions it gives you. An MMORPG is a Mass Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. If none of that makes since, you'll just have to play them yourself."

"Alright… Oh, today I wanted to know what a TV was. Big Brother said that you could watch things happening on it, even if they aren't real."

"Umm, I guess I could show you. Just give me a sec to log off."

As I showed Al to the living room, I explained that TV was short for television.

"So, we watch TV on here…" I said when I pointed to the TV.

"Wait, you just look at it? How does that show you anything?"

"What? No… you… Oh just let me show you!"

The TV turned on and I explained it a bit more. I wasn't good with technical explanations though so I told Al to just ask El for the specifics. He didn't get to watch it for long though because I decided to take him out to an arcade.

"It may be a little advanced for you, but you never know. I'll go tell Eliot and get some money."

"Oh, I know what money is!"

"Our money is different from yours!"

"Drat."


	9. Just Like Teacher

Eliot's POV

"Oh, no you don't!" is what I started my rant out with. Ed had just told me that he was taking Al to the arcade. "I've been up since six this morning, running around to the store and baking this pie, which is finished and ready to eat, for hours!!! You're both going to sit down and eat it before going anywhere!!!"

Alphonse suddenly got a ravenous look on his face.

"THE APPLE PIE IS DONE?! MINE!!! MINE I TELL YOU!! ALL MINE!" and he dived at the pie sitting on the counter. Before I could blink he had a fork and a mouth full of pie. "MMMM! I'm in heaven!"

"HEY?!" Edward said. "I want some too!" and he practically tackled Al. In the meantime, the rest of the pie went flying. It came down straight in the trash can.

The two on the floor stopped fighting.

"Aww," Al cried.

Ed on the other hand was up and running out of the kitchen with a scared look on his face. He had no doubt caught my thoughts.

"M-my pie!? I worked HARD ON THAT!!" I yelled and started throwing the knives sitting on the counter behind me in Al's direction. I'd hunt Edward down later.

When I ran out of knives, I took a deep breath and took a look at Al. He was shivering in the corner of the kitchen, knives stuck in the wall around him. The look on his face showed astonishment.

"I-I didn't know anyone could be as scary as t-teacher."

I started laughing.

"What do you mean, 'as scary as teacher?' There's no way anyone could match up to that. Sorry about the knife throwing by the way. I haven't gotten that mad in ages, no self control anymore it seems. Now then," I could feel my anger swelling again, "hand me those knives so I can toss them at Ed. I WON'T GO EASY ON HIM!! MWAHAHA!!!"

Alphonse almost immediately pulled the knives out of the wall and handed them to me. The scared look on his face growing.

"Now Big Brother, don't kill him. I don't think…" Al said, voice trailing off at the end.

"Don't worry Al. He's not going to die, I hope. I WANT HIM TO SUFFER!!!" and I stormed away.

Edward's POV

I could tell he was coming. It was impossible for me to hide, so I was just going to do my best to avoid the knives he'd be throwing at me. Unlike with Al, he would aim directly at me.

I'd run away, but that would piss him off even more.

As he stormed in, already throwing the first knife, I ducked, the deadly object of fear flying over my head. I danced around as El continued to try to kill me.

He sighed when he ran out of knives to throw.

"I guess I'm done raging then. At least I got you a bit," he said, heading to his bedroom to dig out money. He was apparently going to go to the arcade with Al and me.

I decided I should put a Band-Aid over the tiny cut I had received on my arm before fetching my own money.

"Hey, wait a minute. How come Al can't tell El and I apart? Our automail is reversed," the moment I thought that, I felt like an idiot. Of course he couldn't tell the difference. El and I kept it hidden under long sleeves, gloves, pants, and shoes.

El's thoughts reached me momentarily.

_"Of course you feel like an idiot. You are one after all."_

_"Uh-huh, yeah. Go ahead and make fun of the one that played games and had fun instead of sitting in a row of dusty books and not eating for hours on end,"_ I mentally responded, digging through the medicine cabinet for the Band-Aids.

"_Don't you dare go there. You know I had no choice."_

_"Whatever, oh, and I went there. Drat, out of Band-Aids,"_ I knew I'd regret taunting Eliot later, but for now I had my own anger issues to work out.

A few minutes later, both of us were putting Al into current looking clothes and then dragging him out of the door. We made sure to leave Icarus a note saying we went out to the shopping epicenter of our state and that we wouldn't be home until late that night. El included that Icarus was on his own for dinner. Wonder how that would turn out? Icarus was almost as bad as I was with it.


	10. An Arcade and a Library

So, the beginning of this is a bit boring I think, but it gets fun, and important. Yay story advancing chapter!

* * *

Eliot's POV

I loved coming to the arcade. The first time I had come it had seemed loud and pointless, but I got over that quickly. I hoped Al would enjoy himself.

We all hopped onto the bus and paid our fee, I paid for Al.

"Um, Big Brother?" Al asked me. He had figured out which one I was by my clothes. Al and I sat in one seat and Ed sat in the seat across the aisle.

"Yeah Al?" I said as the bus started to move. Al looked surprised that it still moved even with us on it.

"Is an arcade a place to study? I mean, shouldn't we be looking for a why home?" His eyes wandered to the window to watch the buildings and people go by.

"I guess we could look for a way home, but let's do this first."

"I take it an arcade is not a way to study then?"

Edward answered this time. "Nope. Not at all. An arcade is where you can play arcade games."

Al sighed at the thought. I could tell he would rather be at the library than in an arcade.

"We aren't even there yet. Just give it a try alright?" I told him.

"_Aww, being all compassionate?" _I heard Ed think. I shot him a glare.

"_Shove off."_

He smirked and leaned back against his seat. I joined Al in looking out the window.

"This is just like a train!" Al said after a moment.

"I guess, but it's a lot better at turning and can go faster.

"Hey! What's that?" Al asked pointing to a stop light.

I told him, and then started pointing out other things and explaining them. I answered whatever questions he had to my best ability.

"_We're almost there El."_

"Hey, Al, we're about to get off."

"We're here then?"

The bus came to a stop. I nodded and lead him off the bus.

Edward's POV

Oh yeah! Arcade time! As I lead the way through the crowded parking lot, El continued to explain everything to Al.

"Hey, if you keep telling him all of this in one go, his head is going to explode."

"If you say so. Time to change the subject then," El said, pausing to think a moment.

"How about which games are best?" I suggested.

"Oh! Al, I bet you would do well at pacman! It's an older game so it isn't too complicated. It'd be good to start with."

We entered the arcade building. Al almost immediately started looking around.

"_I'll get coins first,"_ El thought, walking up to one of the coin exchangers.

I got mine from the machine next to him.

"What are those for?" Al asked. He just had to ask about every single little thing, didn't he? Couldn't really blame him too much though.

"They let you play the games. Here's your share," El said, handing him a few.

"I'll play pacman with you, k?" I said dragging him off.

After he was getting used to the games, we all ran out of coins.

"Should we get more or call it good for the day?" El asked me.

"Can we go to the library now?" Al whined.

"_To the library then?"_ Ed thought, looking at me. I nodded so off we went.

When we got there a few minutes later, it wasn't far from the arcade, Al looked disappointed.

"This place is pretty small."

"What the heck are you talking about?!" I said, "This place is huge!!"

"Not compared to Central Library," he answered. Elliot smirked, an image of this Central Library entering his thoughts. I saw it and realized that they were both still used to the absolutely gigantic library of their world.

"Dang," I said, "the thing is probably bigger than the Library of Congress." El knew that I actually knew their library now, but Al only thought I was guessing.

"A larger library? Let's go!" Al excitably said. I responded with a no as El laughed and walked into the library. I followed him. Alphonse trotted along behind us asking more questions.

"Why can't we?!"

I stopped and turned towards him. "Look, it's pretty far away and traveling is really expensive and El and I can't be missing that much school. Maybe if you wait for one of our vacations, we can go, but not right now, not today, and not within the next month!"

Suddenly a rumbling sound and El thinking "Oh shit!!" came from somewhere in the library. Everyone in the building started panicking as it became clear that several cases of books had fallen over.

A few muffled helps came from under the books. Al ran over to the calls and started digging. As El emerged with a book in his hand, I walked over. Library guards and staff also came over.

"What'd you do?" I asked, already knowing that answer.

El glared at me from the floor. "I tried to get a book I couldn't reach because I'm freaking short, what do you think?"

Al looked shocked. "Um, Big Brother? You just... called yourself... um... well... short."

"Yep. I've admitted it. Okay? Don't rub it in. Seriously," he said, a look of defeat on his face. I also felt a bit defeated, but whatever. The guards suddenly started yelling and I decided it would be best to leave now.

El sent me an image of the books he thought would be useful. While he got scolded, still holding one of the books, I searched the piles for the rest with my eyes. Al stood next to El, taking the blame with him. The moment I'd located them all, I dived at them, grabbing them, and a few others I thought went along the right lines. I then started running out of the library, stealing them. El grabbed Al and ran after me. The guards stood, shocked, for a moment. They then yelled at one another and started after us.

I tossed a few books at El, seeing as how we would be able to run faster if we split the load. Al was already having trouble keeping up with us, so we didn't hand him any.

We flew out of the parking lot and ran down the road. We ignored the bus and kept running. The guards were slowly falling behind, but so was Al. I slowed for a moment, only long enough to grab him by the arm, and then took off again. El also did the same on his right side. He pulled him along, each holding our share of the books in one arm.

After running for another block or so, we ran into a store. We sat Al down with the books and went to buy a few hats, some clothes, and a back pack. We bought them all then put them on in the bathroom. Al didn't get anything except a hat, but El and I were wearing dresses and sun hats, our hair down. We walked out of the bathroom and over to Al and gave him his hat. He just took the hat. He didn't laugh since he was still to out of breath, but we could tell he found this hilarious.

We tossed the books into the backpack along with our clothes and left the store. It was sort of odd, but as long as El and I had on long sleeves and a long enough dress to cover our legs, in order to hide our muscles, we looked flat chested, but still super cute. We were considered normal height for girls, and we could easily get away from the cops because who would expect this? We'd done this before since we seemed to end up having to steal things a lot, but there was a downside. Guys would hit on us. We grabbed Al and walked out. El carried the backpack.

"Wow, I can't believe you dressed up like that!" Al said.

"Hey, it beats running three miles to get home," I said. El nodded in agreement.

"I guess, but did you have to wear dresses?"

"Changing into another set of guy clothes isn't going to cut it. After all, how many sets of blonde, long haired, twin boys do you see?"

Al nodded in understanding. We all stood at the bus stop waiting for the bus. A guard from the library walked up and looked at us. I'd already been talking to El, but when the guard got close, we both started talking in a higher pitch. El said something a little interesting and I giggled. The guard walked on. We stopped talking like that.

"You two seem to be good at this," Al said.

"Of course we are, this is what we do every time we steal something," El said.

"Big Brother! You steal things a lot?"

We both laughed nervously as Al glared at us, El even looked away.

The bus pulled up and we got on.

Al asked a question yet again, "So why didn't you look for books when you first got here?"

"I did, but I got banished from the library. It seems they'd forgotten me since the last time."

I stared out the window as El explained the last incident we'd had there.

When we got home El handed me the backpack and went to cook lunch for us. I pulled out a book and tossed it to Al. I then pulled out a book of my own and started reading.

El had finished cooking and had joined us when I realized something that could probably get them home. I jumped up, a french fry still in my mouth. I didn't bother to send my thoughts to El.

"Dad knows how to use alchemy on this side of the gate! I never realized it, but when I time traveled back to Germany before World War II, he had to have used alchemy!"

"Ah!" Ed exclaimed, also standing. "I can't believe I didn't think of that! All this time and I couldn't think of that!"

We examined my memory. Dad had cut his hand before clapping them. The gate that had opened when he touched the circle that had been in our basement had shone gold. We had run through it, as quickly as we could, otherwise the hands would catch you, and take a toll for passage.

Not even a second had passed and we dashed towards the basement.

"H-Hey!" Al yelled. He jumped up and came after us. "What's going on?!"

* * *

And that's it for this chapter! I'm on a roll today with the writing though, so there may be another posted shortly! If any of you have read my other story, I'm a What?!, you may have noticed that I like putting Ed in dresses. I find it funny. So until next time, bye!


	11. Author Note

Not a real chapter:

Ok then, so I haven't updated in a while on this story… I don't really like it anymore. I think it needs rewritten completely. So if you're subscribed to the story, you're going to start seeing notices for already done chapters. This is me replacing it.

So you can choose to stay subscribed if you want, but the story is changing. I'll love you if you stay subscribed to it! 3

I also realized I said this awhile back, and I actually did write new chapters, but it created huge plot holes. Which is why I'm just redoing the whole thing. Alphonse will probably still be OOC because, for the life of me, I can't seem to get his character right.

By now you probably don't care too much, but if you're really against this tell me, I may just decide to work harder to fix the plot holes and such.


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